With just a few days until the shipping date for one of the hottest must-have toys this year, Fisher-Price and Disney have teamed up to create the ‘Get Up and Groove with Mickey’ mini-site featuring Dance Star Mickey himself.

We’ve been anticipating the October 5 release of Fisher-Price’s Dance Star Mickey ever since we first met him and Dancing with the Stars winner Donny Osmond at the product launch event earlier this year. Mickey dances along with the kids to all different types of music and even plays games with them and now you have a sneak peek at playing games with him too thanks to the website.

Disney Interactive and Junction Point Studios have just released this featurette focusing on the story development element of the upcoming Nintendo Wii release Epic Mickey. Featuring Junction Point’s Warren Spector, along with many of the developers, the featurette uses concept art and gameplay video to explain the game’s genesis, the storyline and how the player helps to shape the story by the choices they make. There’s even a bit of dialogue featured that takes place during an encounter between Mickey Mouse and his brother Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

Earlier this month, we brought you the plea of Bear Vasquez, the man behind the ‘Double Rainbow’ viral video sensation. You can refresh your memory by clicking on the link, but essentially Bear was upset because Walt Disney Animation Studios had attempted to create a viral video of their own promoting Disney’s Tangled parodying his video but made no attempt to reach out to Bear to at least seek consent. In short, Bear was simply seeking recognition for his efforts and at no time was concerned with financial compensation. Most of our readers sided with Bear and many of you signed and promoted our petition for Disney to recognize Bear and we are pleased to say it has some effect.

In a special “This Week” town hall meeting taking place in New York City, Christiane Amanpour moderates a live debate “Holy War: Should Americans Fear Islam?” The town hall will feature contributions from panelists on both sides of the issue, including evangelist Franklin Graham, Daisy Khan — executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement and one of the leading organizers behind the planned mosque and Islamic community center in New York City — Azar Nafisi, author of “Reading Lolita in Tehran,” Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch, Peter Gadiel of the 9/11 Families for a Secure America Foundation, and Donna Marsh O’Connor of the September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. The town hall meeting airs Sunday, October 3 on “This Week with Christiane Amanpour.”

Variety recently reported on a project tentatively titled Magic Kingdom which it says has been in development since prior to the arrival of Rich Ross to Walt Disney Studios. Reportedly a pitch and script has already been written by ‘Battlestar Galactica’ reboot architect Ronald Moore, had taken place initially at Disneyland and is currently under development at Strike Entertainment. According to Variety, Disney is looking for a writer of its own to bring the park to life in a Night at the Museum-esque offering.

The Walt Disney Company today launched Disney Magic of Healthy Living — a national multimedia initiative designed to partner with parents in their quest to raise healthy, happy kids. The initiative, which includes public service announcements featuring First Lady Michelle Obama and young Disney stars, builds on the Company’s commitment to a healthier generation of kids begun in 2006 with the announcement of landmark nutritional guidelines associating Disney brands and characters with a more nutritionally balanced range of foods.

Disney Magic of Healthy Living takes that commitment to the next level enlisting many of the Company’s assets and platforms to inspire kids and help reinforce the work of parents. New content showcases fun, easy ways that healthy living practices can be woven into the fabric of everyday life.

“We are very proud to take the next step in our long-term commitment to helping families achieve healthier lifestyles, and are especially gratified to work with the First Lady on the Let’s Move! campaign,” said Disney President and CEO Bob Iger. “The health of our kids is critically important and we are pleased to be doing our part to encourage smart eating and exercise.”

“I am thrilled to join Disney’s Magic of Healthy Living effort and support the work these young people are doing to reach out to their peers and communicate this powerful message,” said First Lady Michelle Obama. “Earlier this year, I launched Let’s Move! with the goal of reducing childhood obesity rates in a generation, and through this Disney program, we are able to carry that goal directly to kids — the key stakeholders in this effort. I hope through programs like the Magic of Healthy Living, young people are inspired to take control of their own health, fitness and nutrition and engage their families, schools and communities to do the same.”

Highlights of Disney Magic of Healthy Living include:

A year-long series of inspirational television public service announcements featuring Mrs. Obama and Disney Channel stars including Nick Jonas (“JONAS L.A.” and “Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam”) and Brenda Song (“The Suite Life On Deck” and “Pass the Plate”) among others. The PSAs will be presented daily on Disney Channel, Disney XD, Radio Disney and Disney.com. They will also be featured on ABC in addition to being distributed through the Ad Council’s network of 1,700 broadcast, network, and local cable stations for use in donated media.

A national essay contest calling on kids to write about ideas for living a healthy life at home, at school or in their communities. The contest will open for entries next month and will culminate in a special Disney Magic of Healthy Living — The Weekend event at Walt Disney World Resort for 50 winners from across the U.S. For more information, visit Disney.com/healthyfun.

A $1 million grant from Disney will help to build play spaces and gardens in 10 underserved communities nationwide. Disney will be working closely with KaBOOM!, a renowned non-profit organization whose vision it is to have a great place to play within walking distance of every child.

“The Magic of Healthy Living is a great example of putting behavioral research into action to inspire children and families to make small, incremental lifestyle changes to improve their health and well-being,” said Dr. James O. Hill, Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine and Director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado. “With this initiative, Disney has shown commitment to the health of our children. And best of all, who better than Disney to make it fun!”

“Through the Magic of Healthy Living, Disney continues building on the leadership of its landmark nutrition guidelines by illustrating how national health goals can be translated into simple and fun activities that can be embraced for a lifetime,” said Dr. Keith Ayoob, Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. “The program celebrates Disney’s ongoing commitment to helping parents and children truly enjoy healthy living by offering them a wide variety of activities and tools, empowering them to find those that work best for their family. That’s the best way to make a healthy lifestyle last forever.”

Disney Store has announced a contest in which five correct entries will receive a free Halloween/roleplay costume from Disney Store. To enter, watch the video below and identify the 30 different Disney costumes in the order they appear in the video (costumes may appear more than once).

Once you have your list, email it to dcp.disneyliving@disney.com with the subject line of ’30 in 30.’ Entries must be received by the end of October 8 and are limited to one per person/address. For full details and rules, click here.

Walt Disney Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios have provided us with this new theatrical poster featuring Rapunzel, a sword-wielding Maximus and a frying pan-wielding Flynn Rider.

Disney’s Tangled also stars the voice talents of Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi and opens nationwide on November 24. For more information on the film including featurettes, concept art, character art, fun facts, photos of the meet & greet characters at Walt Disney World and Disneyland and more, follow this bookmark.